Compliance Stuff

New guidelines governing Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) investigations and enforcement e ffectively signal the official end of the proclaimed FCPA enforcement pause announced by President Trump earlier in the year, while marking the start of many new priority areas of FCPA enforcement. The  guidelines , issued June 9 by Deputy Attorney General (DAG) Todd Blanche, follow the direction of the Trump administration’s laser sharp focus on the “total elimination” of cartels and Transnational Criminal Organizations (TCOs) and build upon the priorities spelled out in Attorney General Pamela Bondi’s memorandum issued in February. That memo, in part, directed FCPA Unit prosecutors in the DOJ’s Criminal Division to prioritize investigations relating to foreign bribery connected to the criminal operations of cartels and TCOs and to shift focus away from cases that don’t have such a connection. Separately,  Executive Order 14209  directed the DOJ to cease initiation of any new ...

On June 9, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche released a much-anticipated update to the Trump administration’s plans for enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). The  Guidelines for Investigations and Enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA)  demonstrate that FCPA enforcement will continue under the Trump administration, but the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) focus will be much different than under prior administrations. Further, the DOJ’s enforcement standards will be different, with guaranteed declination of enforcement for those companies that “voluntarily self-report, cooperate, and remediate,” as established in the revised  Criminal Division Corporate Enforcement and Voluntary Self-Disclosure Policy  (CEP) and articulated by Head of the DOJ’s Criminal Division Matthew Galeotti in his  June 10 remarks . Background The guidelines follow a series of announcements by the administration in February regarding the FCPA. On February...